(January 20) Israel was among the first responders to the crisis in Haiti last week, sending IDF rescue troops and medical personnel from Hadassah and other hospitals within days of the devastating earthquake. Because of Israel’s long experience with bombs and terror attacks, the army and medical community are expert at handling emergency rescue and medical crises.

Hadassah is proud that doctors and an OR nurse from Hadassah Medical Organization are among the personnel that, in short order, set up a tent hospital that includes surgical and medical departments, two operating rooms, an intensive care unit, an emergency room and a maternity ward. Translators accompanied the Israeli contingent to aid doctors. The hospital is set on a soccer field in Port-au-Prince.

After setting up the hospital equipment, the doctors worked the first 36 hours straight, operating on more than 70 patients and treating countless others for infection, first aid, broken bones and more.

Doctor Shir Dar, an OBGYN from Hadassah Ein Kerem, delivered the first baby born at the Israeli field hospital--a joyful sign of life amid so much death and destruction. The grateful mother said she will name her son Israel.

Also working at the field hospital from Hadassah are orthopedic surgeon and anesthesiologist Dr. Taras Shirov; Dr. Revital Hivert of the Department of Prosthodontics; and OR nurse Reuven Gelfond from Mt. Scopus.

When the hospital ran out of bone screws needed to treat fractured limbs, the resourceful Nurse Gelfond located a nearby factory and guided them to create the screws from simple nails.

At Hadassah, healthcare is our heritage, and it is rewarding to know that every day we deliver the most advanced medical care in the Middle East. We have reached out often to relieve suffering around the world—from humanitarian rescue in Southeast Asia to the earthquake in Turkey, from AIDS care for children in Ethiopia and Kazakhstan to lifesaving pediatric heart surgery in China.

In Haiti we continue our work, building bridges to peace through medicine.

To help Hadassah continue its lifesaving work around the world, click here. For a list of organizations helping the Haiti relief effort, click here.

A Letter To Nurses
From Hadassah's Nurses' Advisory Board:Read More >>

Medical Report from Haiti
1/19/10
The Israeli rescue mission arrived in Haiti over the weekend. Arranged and managed by the Medical Corps & the Home Front Command of the IDF, the mission comprises dozens of physicians and nurses, including three Hadassah physicians and a nurse: Dr. Shir Dar from Hadassah OBGYN Department; Dr. Taras Shirov from our Orthopedics Department, who went as an Anesthesiologist; Dr. Revital Hivert, who is a physician in the Department of Prosthodontics, and a member of the IDF Unit in charge of identifying dead people; and Reuven Gelfond, an OR nurse from Mt. Scopus. Click here to see more >>
Following is an exerpt from "Ha'aretz", telling the story of the first baby born in the Israeli field hospital. The following report comes from Dr. Taras Shirov, one of Hadassah's physicians in Haiti. Dr. Shirov is an anesthesiologist and an orthopedic surgeon. Read more >>

CNN Report
A CNN story today doesn't mention Hadassah specifically, but makes an interesting comparison between the American and the Israeli work in Haiti. We're proud that Hadassah is part of this humane mission. Watch report here >>